No description available.

No description available.

This research is concerned with authentic science writing, and in particular, investigating collaborative science writing at secondary school level, using an online collaborative-writing environment. Specifically, it investigates how measures of successful authenticity relate to (i) how close to the text-structure of a prototypical library report genre are collaboratively-written student papers (i.e., how close to the model students were taught) (ii) to what extent do the papers use the language of science as expected at this level of schooling, for example, use of nominalization, and finally, (iii) what is the degree of participation and contribution by students in a collaborative writing task? The research also examined how students' collaboratively written texts evolved, or changed, over time in terms of their textual structure and of their key linguistic features. The research provides some insight into how text changes and evolution could be explained in relation to online dialogue and feedback. Finally, the thesis identifies the implications of the above for pedagogy and policy, i.e., for (i) students' language development in science and the use of genre pedagogies, (ii) collaborative writing in science, and (iii) on line pedagogy?

This is a case study of teachers and students in selected secondary schools in the UK.It looks at the way two recently developed technologies, Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and Electronic Voting Systems (EVSs) were being used in the teaching and learning of science in selected secondary schools. The study made use of a combination of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to elicit the views and experiences of teachers and students from their use of the technologies. Qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis and quantitative data was analysed by the use of Excel. The study revealed that the use of both VLEs and EVSs is relatively new in schools. Both technologies were shown to have potential to enhance students' learning experiences. I found that despite local authority support and strong initial interest from teachers, a project to introduce the use of a VLE into science teaching ultimately failed. The study explores possible reasons for this and suggests changes that may help to avoid similar failures in the future. In particular, the study established the need for staff development and technical support to optimise the use of new technologies in schools.

No description available.

No description available.

This project looks at the ability of young adolescents at lower secondary level to recognise experiments as ways of asking questions in scientific investigations. Many science curricula emphasise the need for pupils to develop skills necessary for experimenting, like planning and designing experiments for investigations, deciding on which variables to manipulate during the experiment, recognising a critical piece of information which could be used to plan and design a critical experiment. A number of questions based on the available literature and theoretical evidence were raised. These questions formed the basis for the study: (1) Do pupils at lower secondary level appreciate the inclusion of experiments in science learning? (2) Can these pupils identify a critical piece of information necessary for providing a credible solution to a problem? (3) Do lower secondary level pupils have the ability to conceptualise or see experiments as ways of asking critical questions in scientific investigations? ( 4) Can the development of the experimenting skill in those pupils at lower secondary level who have not yet developed it be accelerated through appropriate teaching? (5) Can lower secondary pupils from completely different teaching and cultural backgrounds demonstrate similar performances in terms of seeing the experiment as a way of asking critical questions in scientific investigations? To answer these questions a three stage investigation was used. Each stage was called an experiment. For the entire investigation, a total of 1964 pupils were used from Botswana [junior (lower) secondary schools] and Scotland [lower secondary schools]. A card game called Eloosis, questionnaires/tests, teaching units and interviews were employed at different stages of the investigations. The teaching units and Eloosis were used to help pupils accelerate the development of the ability to recognise critical pieces of information for critical experiments in scientific investigations where possible. The questionnaires/tests were designed to examine evidence of the development of this ability skills. Interviews were meant to solicit more information from pupils regarding the ability of the pupils to conceptualise the place and nature of experimentation in scientific enquiry. However, Scotland pupils and one sample of the Botswana pupils did not participate in the use of teaching units. The data collect from the Scotland pupils was primarily used to establish the wider acceptance of the results obtained from the Botswana group. From the results obtained from this study, it was clear that pupils from different educational and cultural settings equally appreciated the inclusion of experimental work in their science activities. However, their perceptions of its place and purpose differed from those of the curriculum planners. The evidence from the data analysis suggested that the ability to see experiments as ways of asking questions in scientific investigations is significantly developmental and cannot be homogeneously accelerated. The result appears to be true for all pupils at this age range regardless of their educational and cultural background. There was also a general lack of the ability to identify a critical piece of information which, in the opinion of this project is related to the ability to recognise critical experiments for working out solutions to scientific problems. However, it was not possible to gain much insight into the extent to which the teaching units and Eloosis, when used over a longer period of time, could impact on the development of the experimental skills. The reason for this lies within the restrictions on time and the Willingness of the schools to allow such a prolonged access to their pupils. It also emerged from the interview results that most pupils, in their responses, confused experimenting with practical work. This finding explains why a significantly higher number of the pupils indicated that what they liked most about their science lessons were experiments.

Education / D.Ed. (Didactics)

Education / D.Ed. (Didactics)

Στόχος της παρούσας διατριβής είναι η σχεδίαση και η αξιολόγηση μιας διδακτικής ακολουθίας για την κίνηση του απλού εκκρεμούς, στα πλαίσια της καινοτομικής και εποικοδομητικής αντίληψης για το αναλυτικό πρόγραμμα Φυσικών Επιστημών. Πρόκειται για έρευνα εφικτότητας η οποία διενεργείται σε τρία επίπεδα: της ανάλυσης, του σχεδιασμού και της εφαρμογής. Το επίπεδο ανάλυσης περιλαμβάνει την επιστημολογική ανάλυση του Γαλιλαϊκού πλαισίου μελέτης της κίνησης του απλού εκκρεμούς, την ανάλυση των νοητικών παραστάσεων των μαθητών για την κίνηση του απλού εκκρεμούς και την ανάλυση των απαιτήσεων της καινοτομικής και εποικοδομητικής αντίληψης για το αναλυτικό πρόγραμμα Φυσικών Επιστημών. Το επίπεδο σχεδιασμού περιλαμβάνει τη διατύπωση των διδακτικών στόχων και τη διαμόρφωση του περιεχομένου της διδακτικής ακολουθίας. Δομικά χαρακτηριστικά της ακολουθίας συνιστούν (α) η πολιτισμική επιλογή του τεχνολογικού πλαισίου λειτουργίας του ρολογιού-εκκρεμούς, (β) η εννοιολογική επιλογή της Γαλιλαϊκής προσέγγισης της μελέτης του απλού εκκρεμούς και (γ) η μεθοδολογική επιλογή της σχολικής εκδοχής της υποθετικο -παραγωγικής προσέγγισης της επιστημονικής γνώσης. Η προτεινόμενη ακολουθία απαρτίζεται από τέσσερις διδακτικές ενότητες και υλοποιείται μέσω δραστηριοτήτων - προβλημάτων, οι οποίες βασίζονται σε μετασχηματισμένο ή αυθεντικό υλικό προερχόμενο από την Ιστορία της Επιστήμης. Το επίπεδο εφαρμογής περιλαμβάνει την πειραματική εφαρμογή της διδακτικής ακολουθίας σε 36 μαθητές της Γ΄ Γυμνασίου και την αξιολόγηση της γνωστικής προόδου που υποθέτουμε ότι θα σημειώσουν. Χρησιμοποιείται η τεχνική του ερωτηματολογίου για να ανιχνευθούν οι νοητικές παραστάσεις των μαθητών πριν και μετά τη συμμετοχή τους στην εφαρμογή του προγράμματος. Η ανάλυση των δεδομένων πραγματοποιείται σε τρία επίπεδα. Στο πρώτο επίπεδο καταδεικνύεται η θετική συμβολή των δραστηριοτήτων της διδακτικής ακολουθίας στη μετακίνηση των απαντήσεων των μαθητών προς την κατεύθυνση της αποδεκτής σχολικής γνώσης για τη κίνηση του εκκρεμούς. Στο δεύτερο επίπεδο καταδεικνύεται η συνολική σημαντική γνωστική πρόοδος των μαθητών στις τρεις συνιστώσες της επιστημονικής γνώσης, την πολιτισμική, την εννοιολογική και τη μεθοδολογική. Τέλος, στο τρίτο επίπεδο καταδεικνύεται η θετική συμβολή της διδακτικής ακολουθίας στη συγκρότηση ομάδων μαθητών που χρησιμοποιούν με επαρκή και συνεκτικό τρόπο τόσο την εννοιολογική όσο και τη μεθοδολογική συνιστώσα της επιστημονικής γνώσης. / The aim of this thesis is the design and evaluation of a teaching sequence for the motion of the simple pendulum, under the innovative and constructive approach of the science curriculum. This study belongs to the ‘feasibility’ research current and was carried out at three levels: analysis, design and implementation. The level of analysis involves the analysis of Galilean epistemological framework about the motion of the pendulum, the analysis of mental representations of students about the motion of the simple pendulum and the analysis of the requirements of innovative and constructive approaches for the science curriculum. The level of design includes the formulation of learning objectives and the content development of the teaching sequence. The structural features of the sequence concern (a) the cultural dimension of scientific knowledge (the relationship between the simple pendulum and the timekeeping problem), (b) the conceptual dimension of scientific knowledge (a Galilean semi-quantitative approach of the isochronal motion of the simple pendulum) and (c) the methodological dimension of scientific knowledge (a hypothetico-deductive approach of the relation between the period of the simple pendulum, its string length and its gravitational acceleration) The proposed sequence is composed of four modules and is implemented through problem – solving activities, which are based on transformed or authentic material from the History of Science. The application level includes the experimental implementation of the teaching sequence to 36 students aged 14-15 y.o. and the evaluation of their cognitive progress that we assume took place during the teaching. A questionnaire is used to detect mental representations of students before and after having participated in the teaching intervention. Data analysis was carried out on three levels. The first level shows the positive contribution of the activities of the teaching sequence to a transformation of student responses towards the acceptable scientific school knowledge about the motion of the simple pendulum. The second level shows the overall significant cognitive progress of students in the three components of scientific knowledge, cultural, conceptual and methodological. Finally, the third level shows the positive contribution of the teaching sequence in the formation of groups of pupils using in an efficient and coherent manner both conceptual and methodological aspects of scientific knowledge.